The invention relates to a method of recording information and tracking signals on a tape-like record carrier in the form of tracks which are substantially parallel to each other and which make an angle with the longitudinal axis of the record carrier by means of an apparatus which comprises a rotary head disc on which there is arranged at least one first write head, which is controllable in respect of height, the height of said first write head being controlled as a function of the strength of the tracking signals read by said write head.
Such a method is known from Netherlands Patent Application No. 7702815 laid open on Sept. 19, 1978 to which co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 136,235, assigned to the assignee of the instant application, corresponds. In accordance with this method the write head simultaneously writes tracking signals and information, the write head being centered on a track during read out by reading the tracking signals produced by cross-talk from the two adjacent tracks and comparing the amplitudes of these cross-talk signals. Said application also describes a kind of tracking during recording. In this case the head which records a specific track reads the tracking signal produced by cross-talk from the preceding track and the head is controlled so as to remain at a substantially constant distance from said preceding track as a function of said cross-talk tracking signal, so that substantially equidistant tracks are written.
This method of having the write head follow a specific track during recording by reading tracking signals written in the preceding track by said write head is found to be unsatisfactory, because the cross-talk tracking signals being read are very weak relative to the write current required for recording the information and can hardly be discriminated from the noise by which said write current is accompanied.